Digital Therapeutics "Viable Solution" for Mental Health Needs

The pandemic likely increased mental health problems in adults, many of whom put off seeking care due to concerns about contracting COVID-19. Researchers published their study results in Psychiatry Investigation.  

“Digital therapeutics emerged as a viable solution to mental health problems, and it was well-received by those in need of psychiatric consultation. Therefore, development and implementation of digital therapeutics should be considered to improve the mental health of people,” wrote corresponding author Jaeun Ahn, MD, PhD, of the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, and coauthors from the Republic of Korea.

The study gauged levels of stress, depression, and anxiety in June 2021 among 445 adults from Korea with no history of mental illness. Participants, whose ages ranged from 20 to 50, filled out an online survey that included mental health measures as well as questions about changes experienced during the pandemic and attitudes toward digital therapeutics.

Half of the participants reported significant levels of stress, according to the study. Additionally, 13.5% of participants met screening criteria for major depressive disorder and 7% for generalized anxiety disorder. Researchers noted the rates were much higher than in previous reports, which estimated the prevalence of major depressive disorder to be between 6.1% to 6.7% and a generalized anxiety disorder prevalence of 2.4% in the Korean population.

“As our study only included participants who did not have a history of being treated or diagnosed for mental illness, our result might reflect the increase in psychiatric symptoms such as depression and anxiety post-pandemic,” researchers wrote.

Factors that significantly predicted mental health problems were younger age, female sex, current medical treatment, and changes in mobile device/computer use, household income, and work environment due to the pandemic.

Just over a third of participants at least slightly considered psychiatric consultation but were hesitant to pursue it because of concerns about contracting COVID-19, the study found. Some 54.4% of participants preferred psychiatric digital therapeutics instead of visiting a clinic in person.

“The participants were willing to utilize digital therapeutics if available, and even preferred this type of support compared to actually visiting a clinic,” researchers wrote. “As such, it would only be rational to allocate more resource toward developing and implementing digital therapeutics, which may help improve mental health conditions during a pandemic.”

Reference:
Kwon M, Jung YC, Lee D, Ahn J. Mental health problems during COVID-19 and attitudes toward digital therapeutics. Psychiatry Investig. 2023;20(1):52-61. doi:10.30773/pi.2022.0150